


Cut Cut Hair

by pinkevilbob



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Haircuts, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:08:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22753015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkevilbob/pseuds/pinkevilbob
Summary: Jester's about to close up for the day when a unique customer comes in.
Relationships: Jester Lavorre/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 8
Kudos: 68





	Cut Cut Hair

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so I was going to write something very different, but then I was listening to Cut My Hair (feat. Cavetown) by Mounika and I had to write this au. The original concept was built with seb and koala.

Jester rolled her shoulders. It had been a long day of cutting hair. Not that she didn’t like her job, but some days she was definitely ready for the end of her shift.

The bell jingled as the door opened. “I’m sorry, but we’re about to clo-”Jester started to say, but she froze when she saw the man who entered. He must’ve had the longest hair that Jester had ever seen. It hung down past his hips and was all tangled and knotted, and he’d managed to get it caught in the door. If Jester had to guess the color, she would’ve said dingy auburn.

After struggling with the door for a moment, the man turned to Jester keeping his eyes lowered. “Are you still open?”

“We’re,” Jester paused. There was something about him that made her think of a lost deer in the woods. If she made the wrong move, he’d bolt and never be seen again. And he was desperately in need of a haircut. “Yeah, we’re still open. You here for a haircut?”

“Do you wash hair here?” he asked.

Jester nodded. “Yep! We totally wash hair here.” 

He smelled like he needed more than just his hair washed. “I’d like to get it washed. And maybe a trim.”

“Ok,” Jester said. “It might be easier to cut your hair off or at least some of the excess off first.”

The man took a step back clutching his hair. “No, I just want a trim.”

Jester smiled gently. “Ok, let’s get it washed first.” It was going to be a nightmare to wash it all, but Jester wasn’t one to turn away a customer(unless they were being a jerk and then all bets were off).

“Danke,” the man said following as Jester led him to the hair washing station.

“No problem, this is my job after all,” she said. “I’m Jester”

“Caleb,” he said softly, “Caleb Widogast.”

Jester plucked shampoos and conditioners off the wall. This was going to take a lot of shampoo. “Nice to meet you Caleb. Are you growing out your hair for a particular reason?”

“Nein,” Caleb said. “I just never liked cutting it.”

“I can tell.” Jester gathered his hair and plopped it into the sink. “You sure have a lot of it.”

Caleb turned away. “Ja, I do. I’m not very good at taking care of it.”

Jester nodded. That was pretty obvious. “Yeah, no offense, but you should wash it more often.”

“I was sick for a long while,” Caleb said. “I tried to go to the barber shop, but they wanted to cut it all off.” He shrunk down in the chair. “I couldn’t do that.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you came here then.” Jester smiled into the mirror looking at him. She filled the sink with warm water and tried to not make a face at the dingy brown color the water quickly became. It took replacing the water twice before Jester even considered using the shampoo on Caleb’s hair.

He kept his eyes closed but he was tense and tight. His hands gripped the chair's armrest tightly.

"Are you okay, Caleb?" Jester asked.

Caleb nodded tersely. "Ja, I'm fine."

"I'm not pulling it, am I?" Jester asked. "Do you need me to be more careful?"

"Nein, you're fine. I'm just not used to letting other people touching my hair."

Jester squirted a big palmful of shampoo into her hand. "Okay, I'm adding the shampoo now."

Caleb nodded. Shampooing his hair took forever. Jester had to undo all the knots by hand carefully teasing them out. Even after rinsing his hair several times before Jester started with the shampoo, it took several rounds of shampoo to get all the dirt and grime out. When she finally got to the conditioner, she felt like she had ran a marathon.

"Right, just have to let this sit in for a minute," Jester said rinsing her hands off. She deserves a milk break. "I'll be back in a minute."

"Danke," Caleb whispered.

Jester turned back. "What?"

"Danke. You didn't have to do this for me," Caleb said.

"Well, you are a customer, it's my job to do your hair."

Caleb stared at her through the mirror's reflection. "Still, you are very kind."

Jester hurried to the back and grabbed a bottle of chocolate milk. Pausing for a moment she grabbed a second bottle and returned to Caleb. "Here," she said, passing him the second bottle.

"What?" He was cute looking so perplexed.

"Complementary milk," Jester said. She took a swig of her milk savoring the sweetness.

"Oh, danke," Caleb said.

Jester grinned as she twisted the cap back on the bottle. "Alright. Now the final rinse." Caleb's hair looked completely different when Jester finally got it all clean. Even with all the water in it, it was a bright red. It was going to take forever to dry it, but fortunately it was best to cut hair wet. "So how much do you want cut off? An inch?"

"Nein!" He shrunk back. "I mean, just a trim. Just the dead ends."

"Ok, long hair suits you super good anyways," Jester said. 

Caleb's cheeks turned a bright red. "Ja, I think so too." He shrank back when Jester grabbed her scissors.

“It’s okay,” Jester said. “I never cut a customer.”

He nodded distractedly. “Good.” His hands gripped the armrest tight.

Jester tapped her chin with her scissors. “Oh, wait. I need to grab an assistant.” She hurriedly dug into a cabinet and pulled out two stuffed animals: a fat green frog wearing a crown and a little spotted cat. “Which would you like to assist us?”

Silently, Caleb pointed at the cat. 

“Right, he’s going to watch and make sure that I do a good job cutting your hair,” Jester said. “And I’ll need you to hold him so he can watch.”

“Ja, okay,” he said, taking the cat and not commenting on how silly or ridiculous it was. Caleb stroked the stuffed cat’s fur.

Jester grabbed the scissors again. Caleb watched her carefully, but he was no longer flinching at her every movement. She had a feeling that he only would tolerate this for so much longer, so she trimmed his hair as quickly as she could. “You don’t want bangs, right?” she asked once she was done.

Caleb jumped up. “Nein!”

“Okay, I figured as much, but your hair still needs styling.” Jester pointed at the chair.

“It’s fine,” Caleb said. “You’ve already done too much for me.”

Jester frowned. She’d hoped to braid his hair so it wouldn’t get in his way as much, but he was already inching towards the door and reaching for his wallet. “It’s nothing,” she said.

“It’s everything to me,” Caleb said. “How much do I owe you?” His wallet was bare and frayed holding only a few small bills in it.

“It’s on the house. It’s not often I get to work with so much pretty hair.”

Caleb shook his hair. “Nein, I must pay you for your services.”

“Tell you what. This time it’s free, but only if you promise to come back here for your next haircut. Say in two months?” Jester asked.

“Ja, I could do that.” He grinned for the first time that evening. “I’m looking forward to it.”

Jester grinned brightly. “Me too!” She waved at him as he left the salon before turning the open sign to closed. Already she could tell that to months was going to feel like forever, but it was going to be worth the wait.


End file.
